L'homme invisible à l'heure du numérique. De l'anonymat à l'invisibilité : le droit à demeurer inconnu.

Conférence Recherche
le  2 février 2018
Cette conférence internationale et pluridisciplinaire réunira plusieurs spécialistes afin de traiter de notre droit à demeurer anonyme à une époque caractérisée par l'omniprésence du Big Data.
A noter  : cette conférence aura lieu en anglais et se déroulera à Oxford.

Through the use of magical artifacts: from the Ring of Gyges mentioned by Plato in his Republic to H.G. Wells' Invisible Man; the desire to become invisible has been ever present in the minds of humankind. Whether it is used for good or evil, invisibility remains a myth that fails to pass the reality test. In the digital world, anonymity and real invisibility has had a lot of appeal since the very beginning of the Web 2.0. The development of enabling anonymous communication software (TOR), encryption (GnuPG) and artificial amnesia systems (Tails) partly enabled the dream of invisibility to come true. Yet, even though this new set of technologies is compellingly useful and beneficial for the protection against privacy invasion from States or malevolent private actors, risks of illegal uses of these new technologies may still exist. The Ring of Gyges epitomizes that invisibility can be a weapon whose ethical value is not inherently attached to it but depends on what it is being used for.

Is the move into the Big Data Era urging us to acknowledge a fundamental right to anonymity or invisibility? Contrariwise, are we only called to regulate the hazardous uses that might be made of this technology, if ever it becomes technically feasible? Furthermore, should we advocate the complete reframing of the notion of identity in the digital world, while arguing, in the wake of Levinas, that any person should be entitled to a digital visage, both identified with but also distinct from the physical face?

This scientific event aims at tackling these critical issues by showing both the continuity and persistence of the theme of invisibility. Importantly, speakers will endeavor to cast new light on the new identity-related problems posed by the emerging digital world. This investigation is particularly relevant today: even though digital liberties are gaining traction and progressively finding their way in the democratic pact, risks of serious misuses of new technologies are quite high and may have disastrous consequences. Above all, a good grasp of these issues is a prerequisite for the design of our future economy and its ability to generate wealth and employment whilst taking into account each individual’s identity and need to hide and to be left alone.

Pour en savoir plus


> Consulter le site web du Centre d'études sur la sécurité internationale et les coopérations européennes (CESICE)

Partenaire(s) : Le CESICE, le Data Institute et la maison d'Oxford
Publié le  16 janvier 2018
Mis à jour le  26 janvier 2018